In for a Knut, In for a Galleon
by Lady Feylene
Summary: Ron will do anything not to be poor anymore. When Millicent Bulstrode offers him a good sum of money to make Draco jealous, he jumps at the chance. And that's only the beginning.


Title: In For a Knut, In For A Galleon  


Author: Lady Feylene  


Disclaimer: Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Pansy Parknison, Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass do not belong to me. Nor do any ideas, themes, places, spells from the Harry Potter universe. They all belong to JK Rowling.  


Fest: This piece was written for the . Challenge #91. Ron will do anything to not be poor any more.  


Rating: PG-13  


Pairing: Ron/Millicent, Ron/Pansy, Ron/Tracey, Ron/Daphne, Draco/Pansy, Draco/Millicent  


OoTP Spoilers: None, really.   


Archive: Anywhere! Just ask me.

~~~~~~~~~~

In For a Knut, In For A Galleon

~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Weasley! I wanna talk to you!"

Ron froze. He knew that deep, commanding female voice. And he didn't like it. He turned, his eyes searching the Great Hall desperately for anyone who could help him. Unfortunately, Harry and Hermione had already left to pick up a few books they needed for some essay that he'd already forgotten about. He had no defense against the black haired Slytherin menace that was Millicent Bulstrode.

"What?" Ron asked, folding his arms over his chest. He really couldn't stand the girl. She was loud, obnoxious, unattractive, and took all the bad connotations of Slytherin to heart.

"I need to talk to you." She repeated, narrowing her dark eyes at him.

"About what?" Ron repeated. He added 'stupid' to the list of flaws.

"I need you to do something for me."

"Oh?" *This* was rich. What would she need from him? He watched hr glance nervously over her shoulder. Ron followed her gaze, but all he saw was Pansy Parkinson shamelessly throwing herself at Malfoy. 

"Just come with me." Millicent grabbed his arm, and Ron realized there was no way he could get away. All of that bulk was muscle, apparently. And Millicent had a *lot* of bulk. 

Ron allowed himself to be manhandled out of the Great Hall, cursing his friends for actually caring about their school work. Millicent dragged him into a broom closet, and he decided that it was a good time to start demanding an explanation. With his wand out.

"What's this all about?" Ron snapped, wrenching his arm out of her grip. She lit a lumos spell, and frowned at him.

"Draco's gonna ask Pansy out soon." Millicent explained. Or Ron assumed she was explaining. But he really couldn't make any connection between Malfoy asking out Parkinson, and Millicent dragging him into a broom closet.

"And?" At least that showed Malfoy had taste. Millicent was thick and hard faced, and could probably only hope to be called 'handsome'. In a *very* generous light. Pansy was at least cute, in a round sort of way.

"He should be asking *me* out." Millicent said.

"Yeah." And blast ended skrewts should be Witch Weekly's Featured Pet.

"I'm gonna make him jealous." 

"You are?" Ron did *not* like the way Millicent was looking at him.

"And you're gonna help me. You're gonna take me into Hogshead today."

"No I'm not." There was no way Ron was going to be seen with Millicent Bulstrode. He'd eat a flobber worm first.

"I'll pay you ten galleons." 

"Ten?" Ten galleons, just to take Millicent into Hogsmeade. And be seen with her. Ten galleons was a good bit of money, really. Or it was to the youngest Weasley male. "Make it fifteen."

"Fifteen?" Her thick lips pursed into a very dramatic scowl. "Fine." 

"Hand over the money."

"Half now, half afterwards." She said, firmly.

"Fine." So maybe she wasn't *that* stupid. "Here." She shoved her hand into her pocket, and handed him some coins. He shoved them in his own pocket, not used to their weight.

"Come on then." Ron wanted to get this over with. If he had to do it, he was going to do it. But he wasn't going to enjoy it. In fact, he was pretty sure he was going to hate every second of it. 

He didn't talk to Millicent, the entire way into town. What could he say? He couldn't stand her, and he wanted to be miles away from her. 

"Draco took Pansy to the three broomsticks." Millicent informed him. He imagined that was where they'd have to go. He was going to have a *lot* of explaining to do, to Harry and Hermione. 

"There they are!" Millicent clutched his arm, her voice a low hiss.

"Don't stare at them." Ron snapped, throwing himself down into a chair. He made sure the table was directly in Malfoy's line of sight. Well, if this pissed off Malfoy at least there'd be some benefits to it. 

"Look happy!" Millicent growled, narrowing her eyes. 

"Okay, okay." Ron forced himself to smile. He caught Malfoy looking at them, out of the corner of his eye. He was able to smile a little easier then. "So…Millicent."

"What?"

"I figure we should make it *look* like we're having a pleasant conversation." Ron explained. "He's looking."

"Is he?" Millicent practically squealed. It wasn't a pleasant sound, at all. 

"Yeah, he doesn't look too happy." Ron leaned forward, casually glancing in Malfoy's direction out of the corner of his eye every so often.

"Good! What about her?"

"Hard to tell." As far as Ron could figure, Pansy was trying hard to keep Malfoy's attention on her.

"Hold my hand!"

"You want me to hold your hand?" Ron chuckled. "You better fork over some more galleons." That hadn't been part of the deal.

"What? Fine!" Well, she was agreeing to it anyway. Ron reached out and put his hand over hers, wincing a bit. She had remarkably dry skin. 

"You ever heard of lotion?" He asked, wishing he could take his hand away.

"You're not getting paid to mouth off." Millicent informed him. No he was getting paid to hold her hand. That was really sort of sick and twisted, actually. But he was getting money. Somewhere between fifteen and twenty galleons. Hell, that could do a long way.

"He's getting up." Ron was pretty good at watching without being obvious. "Pansy's making him sit down, though."

"Shit!" Millicent cursed, and there was no way Ron could stop what happened next. She grabbed his hand, pulled him half way over the table, and kissed him.

Her lips were like two slabs of liver, that was the only comparison Ron had. They were thick and slimy and cold. 

"I did *not* agree to kiss you!" Ron hissed, as she let go of him.

"Don't worry; I'll make it up to you. You get thirty galleons, altogether."

"Fine. He looks like he's fuming; I'm getting out of here. You can't pay me enough to get hexed by Malfoy over *you*."

"Fine. Here's your money." She slipped him a small bag under the table, and Ron slipped it easily into his pocket. This was something new and quite pleasing. He had money in his pocket. He'd have to treat Harry and Hermione next time they were in Hogsmeade.

He left the Three Broomsticks, quickly.

***

"You're *mad*!"

Harry didn't seem to think Ron's little adventure was all that brilliant.

"What?" The redhead shrugged, not really caring.

"Malfoy is going to *kill* you."

"No he isn't." Ron said, dismissing it. "And you saw him and Bulstrode this morning. She got what she wanted, I got what I wanted, and Malfoy's miserable. What's the big deal?"

"You're messing around with some dangerous stuff Ron. Be careful."

"It's over with now." Ron said, shrugging. Really, what was the big deal?

***

"Weasley! I wanna talk to you!"

Ron froze. He knew *that* voice very well. It was sneering, high pitched and feminine. And it probably wanted to hurt him.

"Yeah?" Ron turned, nervously. Maybe, in retrospect, he *had* been a bit stupid trying to piss off Malfoy.

"Aren't you gonna try and win your girlfriend back?" 

"Pansy…Millicent is *not* my girlfriend." Ron said, sighing.

"Not anymore." The round figured blonde snapped. "She's Draco's girlfriend now."

"Well, good."

"Good? You're not going to fight for her?"

"Pansy…Millicent *paid* me to go out with her to make Malfoy jealous. And she never swore me to secrecy, so I don't mind telling you." Ron shrugged.

"She *what*?" Pansy's dark eyes narrowed.

"Paid me. Thirty galleons…" Ron repeated, casually. 

"I'll pay you fifty." Pansy said. "Fifty galleons for you to take me up to the library *now*."

"And do what?" Ron asked. Fifty galleons? He'd do a lot for fifty galleons. With Pansy anyway. She was cute, in her own way.

"Whatever. Make it look like we're going out. If it worked for her, it'll work for me."

***

Ron was actually starting to enjoy himself. Pansy had immediately dragged him up to the library-she'd paid him first, too-and plunked them down directly in Malfoy's line of sight. Ron did his best to ignore the foul tempered Slytherin's evil looks. And Millicent's.

//You know, you're probably gonna end up dead. // He probably was. Pansy was squashed right up against his side, head on his shoulder. 

"Now, what exactly do you expect me to do?" Ron whispered, opening up a random text book n front of them.

"Whatever you have to Weasley." Pansy told him. 

"So specific." He rolled his eyes. He could feel Malfoy's eyes on them, and he could just barely make out a strained conversation between him and Millicent. Pansy shot them both a look, smiling in a sickly sweet manner.

"Put your arm around me." She said, her voice low and leaving no room for argument. Ron put an arm casually around her shoulder, lowering his mouth to right alongside her ear.

"Do you *really* think this is going to work?" He asked her.

"Why wouldn't it?" She asked, giggling loudly for affect. "Oh, Ron!" She said, giggling so more.

"That's kind of disturbing." Ron told her, the corners of his lips twisting up in a slight grin. "But I don't think this is working…"

"Fine. Kiss me." She said, her voice a low hiss.

"Hey, at least you gave me warning." More then Millicent had. He gave Pansy a quick kiss on the lips-it wasn't bad, really. And what the hell; in for a knut, in for a Galleon. Or fifty, as it were.

"That was not a kiss." Pansy said, her tone of voice and her smile not quite matching. "*This* is a kiss."

And boy was it. Kissing Pansy was *not* like kissing Millicent. Pansy's lips were rather soft, and not thick or slimy. And she was *very* liberal with her tongue. //If I'm getting paid for this, I may as well enjoy it.// He wrapped his arms around Pansy, his own tongue darting out to join hers. 

He heard a loud thud, and the sound of someone walking heavily out of the library. Pansy stopped kissing him. She was glaring daggers somewhere behind him, but he was still reeling from the kiss.

"I don't think it worked…" Pansy said, scowling. 

"Mmm. Huh?" Ron asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Millicent! Did you *see* the look she gave me? She's up to something, I can tell."

"You're Slytherins." Ron shrugged. "You're always up to something…"

"This should have worked! It worked for Millicent…" 

"Maybe it's overdone?" Ron shrugged. He didn't know. He figured it was a stupid idea anyway. 

"Waste of my money…" Pansy muttered, throwing Ron's arm off. "Thanks anyway, Weasley."

"Sure…"

Pansy stalked out of the library, and Ron slumped down in his chair. The whole thing was rather ridiculous, in his opinion. But, on the other hand, he now had seventy galleons to his name. And that was seventy more then he'd had in his entire life.

And Harry had thought this was a bad idea?

***

"Hey, Weasley! I wanna talk to you."

Ron froze. What was it *now*? He didn't recognize the voice either. Harry just looked at him, shook his head, and walked away.

"Yeah?" Ron turned. It was, surprise surprise, *another* Slytherin seventh year. Tracey something, he could never remember her last name. Davids, Davies, something like that.

"Here. Private?" She asked, batting her rather large blue eyes at him. What was this? Was she some sort of bait, sent out by a vengeful Millicent? Or maybe an unsatisfied Pansy?

"Uh…sure." He hoped to Merlin she wasn't planning on trying to snag Malfoy too. As Pansy had learned-by the fact that Millicent was still curled up to Malfoy at dinner-it only worked once.

"Here." A dead end corridor. Well, at least it wasn't a broom closet. "I heard all about…you and Pansy."

"Oh?" What had she heard about him and Pansy?

"Millicent told us. Well, we found out when she told Draco anyway." Tracey tittered a little bit. Ron was lost.

"Uh…what exactly did Millicent say?"

"Oh, about how Pansy was cheating on Draco with you." Tracey said, matter-of-factly. What? Ron's mind went blank. "But then Pansy told everyone how Millicent had been paying you, and that she'd paid you too, and how good you were…"

"Uh. Yeah." It was the only thing Ron could think of to say. How good he was? How good he was at what?

"Draco's still mad at Pansy, especially when she said how much better in bed you are then him. Anyway, I was wondering…see, my boyfriend dumped me a few weeks ago, and I really don't want a relationship, but….I can pay you whatever Pansy was paying you…" 

Something was *very* wrong here. Somehow Ron had found himself in the middle of some giant Slytherin battle. He and Pansy had never slept together. They had kissed, in front of Draco, to piss him off. Obviously something had gone horribly wrong.

"Uh. What are you paying me to do?" Ron asked, still a bit behind on things.

"What you did with Pansy…" Tracey said, giggling again. That giggle was annoying. And what he did with Pansy wasn't what Tracey thought he had. He didn't think.

"See, I never actually slept with Pansy…" Ron said, carefully. He'd kissed her. A very, *very* nice kiss. One that still gave him shivers when he thought about it. But still, just a kiss.

"She said you did." Tracey said flatly. "Are you calling Pansy a liar?"

"No, uh. No." That would get him in even more trouble. And, well, he felt some weird obligation to support her story. Damn it, he'd have to back her up! "See, I didn't sleep with Pansy for *money*." He said, quickly. Growing up around Fred and George, one learned how to think quickly. "That was, you know, cause. I liked her."

"Oh." Tracey frowned. "She said she paid you."

"Oh, uh yeah. In the beginning." Ron said, easily. "But that was just. Fooling around. And stuff."

"Oh." Tracey nodded. "Fine. How much?"

"For?"

"You."

"Oh." Exactly when had he become a man whore? Right, when he let Millicent pay him. "Fifty galleons."

"Fifty?" Tracey raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "For just fooling around?"

"You wanted to know what Pansy paid me, that's what Pansy paid me." Ron shrugged. If Tracey was willing to pay…he'd have one hundred twenty galleons. Over one hundred galleons. And Tracey…well, she needed to eat but she wasn't a hag. 

"It better be good then, for fifty galleons." Tracey said.

"Oh, believe me, it's good…" 

Well, it was probably good. Ron honestly didn't know. He'd certainly snogged quite a bit, and he'd even gotten inside Parvati Patil's knickers once. It wasn't as if he had *no* idea what he was doing…

***

"Here." 

Tracey had dragged him to an old storage closet. She was standing, arms crossed over her nonexistent chest. Great. Ron had the feeling he'd gotten himself in *way* over his head.

"Well don't just stand there." He said, trying to sound calm and seductive. "Come here." She wasn't going to pay him until *after*. She flipped a bit of her straw colored hair over her shoulder, and closed the distance between them.

"Here." He sat down, and drew her down next to him. He had to be slick. He had to be suave. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her, running his hands over her back. She really was tiny. 

The first few minutes seemed to go very well. Kissing was easy. So was getting her robes and vest off. But then she started pulling at his clothes, and Ron wasn't enjoying himself quite so much. Her fingers were bony and her nails were way too sharp. 

"Hey…calm down." Ron said, prying her claw-like hands away from the buttons of his blouse. "This is for *you*." He told her, snaking his hand inside her blouse and running his fingers over what he imagined were supposed to be her breasts.

Luckily, she listened to him and let him get to work. Tracey, it seemed, was not hard to please. Ron had her writhing on her back in about ten minutes, without even bothering to take off her skirt or knickers.

"Fifty." He told her, as she was buttoning up her blouse.

"I still say you're overpriced." She sniffed, but handed him a small sack of coins. "I'll let you know when I need you again."

"Yeah, sure." Ron said, offhandedly, pulling his robes back on. He left her there, and headed to the bathroom. He felt dirty. Not because he'd just been paid to get some girl off, but because Tracey (Davis, that was it!) wasn't exactly the best partner. He needed to put his new money in his room, in his trunk. His little stash was growing rapidly…

***

"You know, there's a word for what you just did." Harry was saying, lying on his bed.

"I know, I know." Ron sighed. At least now Harry seemed amused, rather then disgusted. "But…"

"Yeah, I know." Harry shook his head, laughing. "Let's hope Hermione doesn't find out, or she'll be out for your blood."

"She's not gonna find out. It's just the Slytherins, they never gossip outside of house. And *you're* not gonna tell her."

"Nope." Harry agreed. "My lips are sealed."

"Thanks mate." Ron said, changing for bed. 

"No problem." 

Ron decided to ignore the slight snicker that accompanied Harry's words as he climbed into bed. Things were starting to look up…

***

"Hey Weasley!"

"Yes?" Ron turned smoothly, finding himself face to face with short, plump, red haired Daphne Greengrass.

"I hear your going rate's fifty…"

Oh wonderful. What was so damn appealing about him to Slytherin girls?

"Yeah it is." Ron nodded. Fifty more galleons wouldn't hurt at all. Then he'd have one hundred seventy. That was almost two hundred.

"See, I don't have fifty galleons lying around. I can pay you….twenty, maybe?"

That would make one hundred forty. He could always hit Tracey up again; she'd seemed satisfied at least.

"Twenty?" But twenty wasn't that much. "I can't promise you all that much, for just twenty…"

"It's all I have!"

"Can't you, you know find someone you don't have to pay?" Ron asked her. Daphne was cute. Cuter then Tracey or Millicent anyway. She had a puppyish look to her, round and innocent.

"No." She shrugged. "Have you *seen* the guys in Slytherin? And Millicent threatens anyone who even *looks* at Draco."

"I see." Ron nodded. "Ah, what the hell. You seem like a nice girl, we can do twenty." What was he *doing*? He was officially becoming a whore.

"Thanks. And, if I can do anything else for you, to make up for that thirty…"

"We'll work something out." Ron said, slinging an arm around Daphne's shoulders. "Now, where did you want to do this?"

***

Ron couldn't quite understand why Daphne didn't have a boyfriend. Sure, she was a little bit mean. And stubborn, from what he could tell. But she wasn't too bad. And she kissed pretty well. And there was an advantage to girls with a little meat on them. That meat was *everywhere*.

//Too bad Pansy never let me get too far.// Ron mused, rooting around in Daphne's knickers. Where had *that* thought come from? It was random, and slightly disturbing. Pansy hadn't even acknowledged him, since that disastrous night in the library. He supposed he ought to seek her out, and ask her why exactly she labeled him as a whore.

"Wow." Daphne sighed, dreamily. Ron just smirked, wiping his hand off on her robes when she wasn't looking. She'd already paid him.

"It's what I'm here for." Sick and deranged as that was. "Just see if you can get me that information by this weekend, huh?"

"I will."

To make up for that lacking thirty galleons, Ron had asked Daphne to do a little poking around amongst the Slytherin Quidditch players. Never hurt to have a little insight into their strategy.

"You take it easy now." Ron told her, buttoning up his blouse. He'd enjoyed this much more then his little adventure with Tracey.

Leaving the storage room, Ron was a bit surprised to run into Pansy. 

"Pansy." He said, nodding to her.

"Weasley. Heard about your sudden popularity. You're welcome." Pansy drawled.

"Thanks, I guess." He shrugged. "Sorry about you now getting Malfoy."

"I don't need him." She said with a shrug. "He's a jerk, and Millicent can have him for all I care."

"He really is a jerk." Ron agreed.

"He wants you dead."

"I can imagine. What exactly did you tell him, anyway?" He had to know.

"Millicent said that I'd been shagging you behind Draco's back. He believed her. I said yeah, I was, and that it was the best I'd ever had, and I even paid for it, you were so good. Then I said that Millicent had been too, because that's the only way she'd *ever* get into anybody's bed." Pansy shrugged. "At least I pissed them off."

"Yeah, and all your little friends are paying me to finger them." Ron told her.

"Really? From the stories I've heard, I'd guess it was a lot more then that."

"Nah." Ron shook his head. "I d have some pride."

"Not much." Pansy said, snickering.

"Enough." He shrugged. "So…you feeling a little lonely, Pansy…" He asked, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"Not lonely enough to pay for it." She said, with a small sneer.

"Aw, I thought you'd heard good things about me?" Ron joked. He was half aware he was flirting with her. She *was* cute. And she seemed to be anti-Malfoy, which was a good thing. 

"I did." Pansy said. "But I'm not as desperate as *some* girls."

"Never said you were." Ron amended. "I *could* be convinced to give you a freebie…you did pay me fifty galleons, and you didn't get too much out of it…"

"That's true…" Pansy looked him over, hands on her hips. "But I have *my* pride, Weasley. I'll pay you to make Draco jealous, but I'm not going to pay you to sleep with me. And I *would* expect you to sleep with me."

"I'm not gonna be paid for sex." He was still a virgin. He wasn't going to share his first time with some girl who had some spare change lying around. "But, hey, if you wanna go into Hogsmeade sometime…"

"Are you asking me on a date?" Pansy's eyebrows shot up. Ron frowned, thinking over what he'd just said. 

"Yeah. I think I am." He nodded. He still couldn't get that kiss out of his mind.

"You're nutters." Pansy said, laughing. She was laughing. At him.

"Nah." Ron shook his head. "I'm not nutters. I just know a good thing when I see it."

"You really *are* a whore." Pansy pointed out to him. "I'm not going to date a whore."

"So you're telling me to give up my job?" Ron joked. "Pansy, my work's *very* important to me."

"I'm sure it is." Pansy drawled. In a way, it was. Ron had *money*. But it was money that he had, that he could put away in the bank. Save it, for when it was needed. 

"You do realize you'll have to pay. On dates." Ron told her. 

"You're such a pain, Weasley." Pansy sighed. 

"So what do you say? You. Me. The Three Broomsticks, next weekend." Ron leaned casually against the wall, and Pansy laughed again. Not so condescendingly, this time.

"Stop with the whoring yourself, and all right." Pansy said, nodding. "And I'll pay." She rolled her eyes. "You really are a pain."

"But I'm a loveable pain." Ron told her, smiling. "Who's the best sex you ever had…"

"We'll see." She said, brushing by him, her voice back to the usual snotty tone. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, giving him a very detailed once over. 

"We'll see."

~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
